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Mission
The mission of Friends for Youth is to create quality mentoring relationships for youth who need them most. Our vision is to transform lives through the power of human relationships.
Friends for Youth was founded in 1979. Since our inception, we have provided mentoring and support for more than 1,700 at-risk youth who would otherwise go unserved. We first established our Mentoring Services program, providing direct services to local youth, who are matched with caring adult mentors who spend an average of three hours a week with them for at least one year. By leveraging the experiences of our mentors, promoting academic curiosity through activities, and offering resources and educational opportunities, we work to help mentees reach their full potential.
We have an 88% success rate of creating long-term friendships, significantly higher than the 33-67% rate for similar programs nationwide.
Based on this successful direct service program and Recommended Best Practices in the field of mentoring, our Mentoring Institute was founded in 1998. Our Mentoring Institute offers workshops, products, and our annual Northern California Mentoring Conference. This program allows us to provide training and support to other organizations, supporting the provision of safe, effective services for even more children in need.
Key Facts
Geographic areas served:
Mentoring Services: San Mateo and northern Santa Clara Counties
Mentoring Institute: nationwide
Target demographics:
Mentoring Services: serves youth between the ages of 8 and 17 who live in San Mateo and northern Santa Clara Counties. These children are referred by youth professionals as being “at-risk” of not reaching their full potential due to challenges at home, at school, or in their neighborhood.
Mentoring Institute: Approximately 98% of the youth served by the Mentoring Institute’s client agencies are from underserved populations similar to those served by our Mentoring Services program: foster youth, children of incarcerated parents, low-income families, or academic achievement program participants within low-income communities. Agency clients serve youth-in-need who are between the ages of 7 and 18 years of age, and provide positive and caring mentors for their youth participants in order to support their strengths and assist them in their development. While services are offered to agencies nationwide, approximately 70% are based in California. Of our California clients, nearly 60% are based in the San Francisco Bay Area/Silicon Valley.
Results to date:
During the past year, youth involved in our MENTORING SERVICES program reported
~ A reduction in risk behaviors (such as drug or alcohol use) and a decrease in legal involvement
~ A decrease in the number of skipped school days
~ An improved attitude towards school and an improvement in grades
~ An increase in future-focus activities (such as discussing career plans with an adult)
~ An increase in the number of trusting relationships with family, peers, and other adults
Based on such findings, Friends for Youth is confident that our approach of long-term one-to-one mentoring, combined with ongoing staff support and services, offers the greatest opportunity for youth to benefit from a caring adult relationship.
During this past year 100% of agencies served said they would recommend our Mentoring Institute services, providing an average workshop, training, and product rating of 3.8 on a 4.0 scale.
Direct beneficiaries per year: Our Mentoring Services program serves 150 local youth-in-need each year, being both new participants and Friendships continuing past their initial one-year commitment.
Indirect beneficiaries per year: Through our Mentoring Institute, Friends for Youth provides training and resources to over 500 mentoring and youth-serving organizations, helping us to impact over 10,000 youth each year.
Board Members and Affiliation:
Rob Inouye (Chair) - Senior Information Technology Analyst, Oracle
Judy Heyboer (Vice-Chair) - Human Resources Consultant
Kathy Grazioli (Secretary/Treasurer) - Community Volunteer
Nancy Carlson - Leadership Education Department, Applied Materials
Joan Cronin - Vice President of Human Resources, Applied Biosystems
Joris Evers - Director of Public Relations, McAfee
Janice Fry - Human Resources Consultant
Galina Fedorova - Financial Services Director, Toyota 101
Dr. Andrew Harker - Director of Budget Management, Stanford University
Gary Goldberg - Certified Public Accountant
Sachin Maheshwari - Senior Associate, Opus Capital
Petere Miner - President, FutureFreight Corporation
Dave Rozzi - Financial Consultant
Past and Current Funders:
Corporate Funders:
Adaptec Foundation
American Century Foundation
California Casualty Group
Chapman & Associates Charitable Foundation
Cisco Systems
eBay Foundation
Giants Community Fund
Hyperion Corporate Fund
In-N-Out Burger Foundation
Morrison and Foerster Foundation
Nektar Employee Foundation
Nikon Precision, Inc.
Oracle
Peninsula Health Care District
Sequoia Healthcare District
Shutterfly Foundation
Silicon Valley Bank Foundation
Silicon Valley Realtors Charitable Foundation
TJX Foundation
Union Bank Foundation
Club Funders:
Palo Alto Host Lions Club
Peninsula Sunrise Rotary Club
Rotary Club of San Carlos
Foundation Funders:
Altos Foundation
Bear Gulch Foundation
California Wellness Foundation
Crescent Porter Hale Foundation
Hurlbut-Johnson Charitable Trusts
June and Julian Foss Foundation
Kimball Foundation
Labuda Family Foundation
Morgan Family Foundation
Morris Stulsaft Foundation
Saints and Sinners Charitable Fund
Sand Hill Foundation
Sidney Stern Memorial Trust
Silicon Valley Community Foundation
Sobrato Foundation
Government Funders:
City of Menlo Park
City of Redwood City
City of Sunnyvale
Department of Education: Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools
Department of Justice: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Programs
San Mateo County Children’s Community Action Team
Key Staff
Becky Cooper – Executive Director
Karen Wilmer – Associate Director
Rebecca Duran – Mentoring Services Program Manager
Sarah Kremer – Mentoring Institute Program Manager